Thursday Things

1. I need a free-standing storage unit for my living/family room area for dishes, books, knick-knacks, and just stuff. Between a stand mixer, a Vita-Mix, and enough random little plates to start my own thrift shop some days, my kitchen storage area is maxed out.

I am storing my books and cookbooks in boxes and in random parts of my house and they’re not all in one place because I don’t have proper shelving and storage. Need to fix this.

2. This unit from West Elm would be lovely. Part open, part glass doors, part solid doors. A nice balance.

I actually got a great modular storage unit from Ikea for Skylar’s room (the Trofast line) a few years ago. The storage system is worth its weight in gold.

I need to poke around the Ikea site and do some research but it’s one of those don’t even want to start researching it because I’ll drive myself crazy with options type projects. It would be easier to just get the West Elm but then I wouldn’t get to drive myself crazy researching the options. See how I am?

3. Last week when I went to the mall and someone got lucky with a pair of boots, well mama got lucky when she saw this: a sale at Anthropologie.

Unfortunately, a sale doesn’t necessarily mean affordable. Tiny bowls are still $20 bucks and plates are still $10 dollars each and up, but anything beats full price.

4. I picked up a few little plates. Half were on sale, half weren’t.

The things I really want never tend to be the things on sale. Funny how that works.

5. If I get more storage in my house then I can buy more at Anthro, right? Can I borrow your credit card while I’m at it?

If you have any fun kitchenware sites you love, link those up because I always need cute cupcake liners.

Do you have any storage systems that you love?

Link it up because I’d love to hear about it.

I would like to keep it as classy as possible considering it’s going to be in my living room. In general, big huge plastic storage bins and carts on wheels don’t scream stylish and chic, but at least they’re functional. Ideally I’d like something that doesn’t break the bank, looks great, and is functional.

Sadly no spare bedrooms. Every square inch is accounted for in this urban pad. Online West Elm window shopping and not putting anything into your cart takes major discipline :)

I recently made lentil-mushroom burgers ( vegan) and these were a huge hit w/ my hubby (who is as carnivorous as they come). Recipe is from June issue of Outside magazine (outsideonline.com). They were a little more labor intensive than I usually like, but I did part of the recipe right after lunch and put it in the fridge, then added everything else before dinner and formed the patties for cooking. I also cut the recipe in half and still had 6 huge patties…and they were delish!

Fun post….I suddenly want to go shopping…

very fun post! I am with rachel and want to go shopping! Have a super holiday

I bought a house that’s pretty fabulous.

I need to get some storage units like that also. There areounly about 4 closets in my entire house, and that is not enough room for all my stuff! There is an attic, but that doesn’t do much for storage of things i actually use. My bedroom doesn’t even have a closet! But there is a tiny bedroom across the hall that is basically a walk-in closet.

I saw those push-pop molds and I so want them! I have never gotten into the banana soft serve because I don’t want to eat it out of a bowl like that. I think I’d be down with the molds though. MIght have to have my mom pick some up and bring them to me. Thanks for the link!

I think you’d love the molds and the price is right. You have to hold them inside a big cup when pouring the liquid into them and freeze them that way (there’s no fancy base unit – but that just takes up storage anyway), but for the price, they’re just fine!

Love anthro, although there isn’t one even close to me which is a stroke of luck. I just moved back home and there were some built in shelves in the kitchen not being used for anything so I stocked alllll of my linens, bowls, kitchen gadgets, and cookbooks there. It was a perfect fit for me.

it’s funny you say that because beyond what I’ve been blogging about, several other things have been completely random strokes of luck and serendipity this past week!

Averie,
Love those plates you picked up, especially the blue one, gorgeous! I’m in the exact same boat with my dish storage. I’ve been hitting the Antique stores and literally haven’t purchased good buys because I don’t want them on the dining room table piling up.
I can’t wait to see your pop sicles. I tried making those incredible Spring Flower Popsicles in Family Fresh Cooking http://www.familyfreshcooking.com/2012/04/23/spring-flower-bouquet-popsicles-recipe/ but mine were so plain in comparison…I just ate them without photographing. :(
Lots of sales this weekend. Hope you can find some storage that matches how classy your room is now, good luck! Sometimes the fun is all in the looking for me.

I just got into the pospicle craze recently! Didn’t buy anything fancy, just some $2 molds at Walgreens :P They get the job done!

Sometimes the 2 dollar items get the job done and I love it when that happens!

Great list of things, I adore Ikea for cheap storage and have a few of the EXPEDIT shelves in our office, gym, and set up as a stylish TV stand in the master bedroom for a fraction of the cost of a “real” TV stand. :-P Good thing hubby does not mind putting them together!

Ikea furniture assembly is one thing you have to take into consideration, for sure, when buying from them!

I can totally relate to your comment about the things you want not being the ones on sale. I have a long-standing joke with my friends and fiance that, if you show me five similar items without prices on them, I have a knack for deciding that the most expensive one is the one I like the best. I chalk it up to having a good internal quality-meter…recognizing, of course, that quality and high price don’t always go hand in hand…but it’s not exactly a talent I like having, either. It makes it more difficult to indulge my tastes when they’re expensive ones. =)

Oh, Averie! You just opened up a whole can of worms for me with those Anthropologie pictures! I haven’t been there in so long and I totally forgot about their amazing kitchen stuff! MUST. GO. NOW.

Have fun! Hope you find lots of cute stuff (won’t be hard to do!)

Anthro is my absolute FAVORITE store — i would buy the whole store if i could! *sigh* … and those straws are adorable! if i had fun straws like that I would definitely drink more water — which i really need to do! thanks for sharing! good luck with the storage unit hunt!

I hit the sale section at Anthro only AFTER I had bought pretty much everything for my apartment so I wouldn’t be too tempted. I did end up buying two bowls and a mug, though. Oh well. I did score with a couple of gorgeous small raku “garden pots” for only $3 each- I use them as toothbrush and makeup brush holders and they’re so pretty!

I’ve re-done most of my house (the bigger pieces of furniture and rooms) in West Elm. I LOVE their stuff; worth saving up for, for me!

I spent every extra penny of my secret “dish money stash” at anthro last weekend – glad i’m not alone!

Between your anniversary, purchasing some adorable plates, and eating some delicious food, it sounds like your week has been great!! My Thursday thing is a snack that I’ve been poppin’ in my mouth all week and we were featured on the same “Salty Sweet Week” together! Here’s the recipe: http://digintobooks.wordpress.com/2012/05/19/snacker-day-saturday-519/.

what a great looking recipe! I’m hungry :)

I really need a good storage system, but I currently don’t have one. I think living in an apartment convinces me to not set up anything because I know it’s not going to be that way forever. Crazy, because I have no plans of moving anytime soon!

I have just the regular cheap popsicle makers too. I guess it requires more patience, but it does the job just as well!

Old school works the best sometimes! (many times, actually!)

You’re smart for skipping the Zoku–my sister bought it for me as a Christmas gift, and I have yet to make popsicles successfully in it! I usually end up just freezing my pops in paper Dixie cups with wooden sticks in them instead!

if you find something you love love love, LMK!

Oh, I love the straws! I have a thing about those cute things!!!

Some day I’m going to buy that Anthro hummingbird plate, along with the chameleon and honey bee ones, and hang them in my kitchen. I’ve been admiring them for a long time and they probably will never go on sale.

As usual, another great Thursday Things!

My hubby is a software engineer at Google and his team was given this camera to test and play with:

I immediately thought of you, Averie, when I saw this! Have you seen this thing? It allows you to touch any part of the photo with your mouse and bring that area into immediate focus. Not only that, you can choose to allow your audience to do the same – or not. It is cool!! Imagine what you could do with your food photography??! Not that it isn’t awesome already! :-)

Wow, so cool! thanks for sharing!

Hope you and the fam have a great holiday weekend :)

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Hi, I'm Averie and I'm so glad you've found my site! You'll find fast and easy recipes from dinners to desserts that taste amazing and are geared for real life. Nothing fussy or complicated, just awesome tasting dishes everyone loves!